Charcoal-only fire pit rules continue slow burn

Newport Beach put out a flier on their website explaining the use of charcoal fire pits:

"Your experience may be a little different – you will find a more even heat, even a longer heat and more heat, and almost no smoke or smoky smell. Cooking dinner seems much better over charcoal. So are s'mores. Your eyes won't sting and your clothes won't smell like smoke for hours afterwards. If family or friends have asthma or respiratory problems with wood smoke, they might find charcoal to be a much better experience. But the flame is less – and eventually charcoal moves to glowing coals.

What's the Best Charcoal Experience?

Purchase a bag or two of "lump" charcoal at Target, Home Depot, Lowes, the supermarket, or a similar store. It should be about $13 a bag. The best kinds are Royal Oak, Cowboy, and Hardwood – again, all "lump" charcoals (not briquettes). You do not have to use lighter fluid either – to avoid the lighter fluid smell, pick up a small carton of paraffin starters, which you'll find these at Home Depot and other places for about $3.50 for a box of 24 starters.

Advantages:

- Less visible smoke, less smell of smoke

- More warmth

- Warmth lasts longer

- Fuel is lighter and easier to haul across the sand

- Easier to start with paraffin starters

- Easier to find and purchase

- Less likely to have other hazards burned or left in the rings

Disadvantages:

- Less visible flame

- Lighter fluid smell, but paraffin starters solve this problem

Annette Arora sits around the warm fire ring on the sands at Huntington State Beach on a recent night as the sun dips into the ocean, hot with emotion.

“It makes me so mad,” she said of the charcoal-only pits in Newport Beach, where she has lived for more than a decade. “I just think it’s sad they took it away from the visitors and the community.”

About eight miles down the coast, Grayson Morris snuggled his 4-month-old son Malone, happy that the charcoal used at the pits isn’t causing smoke to float out of the pit.

“I think it’s a more pleasant environment with just the charcoal,” said the Corona del Mar resident. “It allows us to come down here for some nice family time.”

A bill that would have required cities or counties to obtain a permit from the California Coastal Commission before removing or restricting the use of beach fire rings stalled in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday - meaning Newport Beach’s charcoal-only rule remains. The ban came earlier this year after the South Coast Air Quality Management District restricted open-burning, concerned about the ill effects of wood smoke.

Fire-ring backers hoped the passage of the bill would make it harder to get rid of the rings, a long tradition along the Southern California coastline that brings family and friends together to gather around with S’mores and hot dogs in hand. The no-action means the issue won’t be heard again this year.

With the unofficial end of summer nearing in just two weeks, beach-goers flocked to the sand on a recent night to enjoy the traditional pastime, expressing happiness that the fire rings were still available at all, but mixed emotions about no change to Corona del Mar’s rules.

Visitors like Betty Ziegler, who showed up in Huntington Beach from Cerritos, didn’t know much about the politics happening surrounding the pits - she’s just glad she can still get together with friends around them.

“It would be a shame to remove them,” she said.

David Arnone, of Bakersfield, agreed.

“It’s nostalgic,” he said.

Todd Miller and 14-year-old son Blake were in town from Idaho, and decided to extend their stay just a bit longer to watch the sun set in Huntington Beach.

“We’re staying just for this,” he said. “I used to come here years ago. I haven’t been here for twenty years. I think it’s awesome. It’s so cool because I have my kid, and I can show him stuff I used to do all the time.”

Arora spent the past decade going to the pits at Corona del Mar, but no longer.

“I live in Newport Beach, I have to come to Huntington Beach to enjoy the wood-burning pits,” she said. “That’s OK, I can still go down the street and enjoy it here.”

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